At the start of June, Praescient Analytics brought 13 new interns into the office. Under the supervision of the Analyst Consultant team, the cohort is sure to make incredible professional and developmental progress as the summer goes on. This group has taken on roles in the Business Development, Data Science, Chief of Staff, and Intelligence Cell positions for the next 12 weeks.
Ready to meet the team? Check them out below!
Nikita Alluri – Data Science
Nikita is currently attending George Mason University where she is majoring in Computer Science. She is super excited to learn how to use new tools this summer with Praescient! In her free time, Nikita enjoys crocheting, reading, and watching old Shah Rukh Khan movies. Her dream job would be either a systems engineer or cybersecurity engineer. She loves dark chocolate and is always down for iced coffee!
Connor Izzo – Business Development
Connor attends Christopher Newport University where he is majoring in Business Management. He is most interested in gaining valuable experience through this internship and hopes to “learn as much as humanly possible” during his time with Praescient. He likes to play basketball and hit up the gym in his free time. When asked about his dream job, Connor stated “DreamChaser.” Apples are his go-to comfort food and in terms of party tricks, he can stand on his head. The weather is his determining factor when it comes to his coffee temperature, but he is down for both iced and hot.
Katherine Lehner – Business Development
Katherine is studying National Security and Criminology at Virginia Tech. She is pumped to learn more about data analytics throughout the course of this internship! She loves playing soccer, hiking, cooking, stargazing, and hanging out with friends. Mexican food or sushi are her go-to comfort foods and she has got one-handed cartwheels down for a quick party trick to throw out there. She is always open to iced coffee–rain or shine.
Max Margolis – Business Development
Max is a Data Analytics major at Ohio State University. He is looking forward to learning how to use important data visualization tools at Praescient Analytics. When he has a moment, Max loves to play guitar, hike, cook, hang with friends, work out, kayak, and go tubing. His dream job would entail looking at complex data, analyzing it, and then explaining what it means to people who are unfamiliar with it. If he had to choose a comfort food, it’d be Jazmin’s Cuisine chicken quesadilla. Plus, talk about the life of the party, Max shares that he can “dougie like no other.”
Parker Driscoll – Chief of Staff
Parker is a Foreign Affairs and Data Science student at the University of Virginia. He is very excited to familiarize himself with Praescient’s approach to using data to address challenges that exist within the public sector. Through his data science coursework at the University of Virginia, he has practiced deriving insights from data using various analytical tools such as machine learning models, but he is eager to familiarize himself with the full life cycle of the data science process. More specifically, he is excited to learn about the ways in which Praescient assesses the technology and data that a client has access to and develops novel ways to utilize those resources to best address the client’s challenges. Outside the office, he enjoys all things outdoors. Weekend time is often spent mountain biking, fly fishing, or hiking, and he’ll jump on any opportunities to get on a ski slope. If the weather is bad, he can be found refining his spotify playlists that largely consist of Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead. Since he first started studying in UVA’s School of Data Science and through to his current experience at Praescient, each day he continues to be surprised by the myriad of ways in which data is being used creatively to address problems. His interest in data science developed because he believes that data science is going to be the primary problem solving tool of the 21st century, and he finds it tremendously satisfying to solve these puzzles and derive a valuable conclusion from a dataset. He doesn’t know a specific job title, but he would argue that his dream job would allow him to encounter a wide range of unique problems and work with people to decide how to best exploit data in a way that helps them solve those problems. Given how young the field of data science is, working in this discipline is especially exciting to him because it allows you to solve problems in a wide variety of industries using the same methodology. Seasonally permitting, he would consider soft shell crab to be one of his favorite foods. Outside of that, a good chicken salad sandwich is certainly a go-to comfort food. Regarding party tricks, if it comes up in conversation, people are surprised to hear that he speaks some Arabic.
Erin Cassano – Intelligence Cell
Erin attends SUNY Empire State College where she is majoring in Security Studies. She is excited to learn how to use the different technology platforms and tools for analysis at Praescient. In her spare time, Erin loves to run, hike, and do DIY projects! Her dream job would be as an Intelligence Analyst. Erin’s go-to comfort food is chips & queso! She joins the iced coffee club and says she will take her caffeine iced year-round.
Rhys Hartsough – Intelligence Cell
Rhys is pursuing her Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology at George Washington University currently. She is returning for her second semester with Praescient and is looking forward to continuing to enhance her technical skills and increase her knowledge on the intelligence community! Rhys loves to spend her free time walking her dog, painting, and cooking. She hopes to one day become a Targeting Analyst for an anti-human trafficking initiative. Her go-to comfort food is veggie korma and she enjoys hot coffee to get through the day.
Justin Greger – Intelligence Cell
Justin is a Global Security & Intelligence Studies student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is most excited to be able to put theory into practice at Praescient. Outside of the office, Justin enjoys going to concerts, art galleries, and tattoo parlors. When asked about his dream job, Justin shared that he does not quite know as he is still young and lacks industry experience. He loves cantonese beef stir fry noodles and his go-to party trick involves breaking an inch thick hardwood board held at head height with his bare feet.
Robert Stewart – Intelligence Cell
Robert is a student at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He is excited to broaden his experiences here at Praescient this semester! In Robert’s free time, he enjoys watching sports and has shared that his dream job is to own an NFL team one day. He loves a good baked ziti and enjoys hot coffee to jumpstart his morning.
Julia Herriott – Intelligence Cell
Julia is currently at the Ohio State University where she is majoring in security & intelligence. At Praescient this summer, she is looking forward to learning new analytical tools and tradecraft and improving her briefing skills! She loves hiking, reading, cycling, running, and trying new coffee shops when she is not in the office. When asked about her dream job, Julia said that she would love to be a perpetual student or travel critic. She is always down for a warm cappuccino and if she had to choose a party trick, she’d demonstrate how she has mastered the Irish Goodbye.
Natalie Polanosky – Intelligence Cell
Natalie is an undergraduate student at George Mason University studying Criminology and International Security. She will be pursuing her Master’s degree in International Security this coming spring. Natalie is most excited to expand her knowledge in intelligence analysis techniques with the tools used at Praescient. She is looking forward to frequent briefings, different analytic tool trainings, and getting to hear about the experiences of the current Praescient Analytics team. When Natalie is not in the office, she enjoys playing with her puppy, cooking, and home projects. She would love to work as an intel analyst one day for any of the three-letter agencies. When it comes to comfort foods, Natalie’s go-to is always Mediterranean food and she loves a good London fog in the morning.
Sarah Jasinski – Intelligence Cell
Sarah is currently pursuing her M.A. in Forensic Psychology at George Washington University. She is most excited to learn all of the software during her internship session. So far, we have done ANB training and it has interested Sarah so much that she is excited to learn about others such as Tableau, ArcGIS, and Sintelix. Her favorite things to do outside of the office include laying out in the sun, playing video games with her boyfriend, and sleeping. Sarah’s dream job is to work as an FBI agent. Her comfort food of choice is a huge bowl of her mom’s Chicken Divan and rice. Sarah also loves a good coffee, but when it comes to iced or hot, the weather will always be the deciding factor for her.
Each intern has a unique set of skills that they bring to the table this summer. We are pumped to have them all on board and have already been so impressed with their efforts!